Eric ZuberThis season, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Piano Series will present Eric Zuber on Oct. 23, for the first time a performance by outstanding alumni on Feb. 12 and Esther Park on March 26.
The UAB Piano Series, presented by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music, brings the world’s finest pianists to Birmingham. Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence Yakov Kasman, a Van Cliburn medalist, directs the series. Tickets are $15, $5 for students through grade 12 and UAB employees, and free to UAB students. Call 205-975-2787 for tickets. Call the Department of Music at 205-934-7376 or visit www.uab.edu/cas/music.
Zuber will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, in UAB’s Alys Stephens Center, Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall. On the program are Beethoven’s Sonata, Op. 53, in C Major “Waldstein”; Scriabin’s Prelude for the Left Hand, Op. 9 No.1; Rachmaninoff’s 4 Preludes; and Chopin’s Waltz, Op. 34 No. 1 in A-flat Major; Nocturne, Op. 27 No. 2 in D-flat Major; Ballade, Op. 23 in G Minor; Ballade, Op. 38 in F Major; and Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, Op. 22.
Kseniia PolstiankinaZuber rose to international acclaim in 2007 after winning the Gold Medal in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition. More prizes followed in Seoul and Sydney in 2008, Dublin in 2009, at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master and Cleveland International Piano Competitions in 2011, at Honens in 2012, and another Gold Medal at the Boesendorfer International Piano Competition in 2013. He was awarded the Arthur Rubinstein Prize by The Juilliard School, and has twice received the Gina Bachauer Prize at Juilliard. Hailed as an “irresistibly fluid” and “illuminating” pianist by The New York Times and Cleveland Plain Dealer, Zuber is established as one of the leaders of a new generation of American pianism. Read more at www.ericzuberpiano.com.
On Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017, the UAB Piano Series will feature former students of Kasman, 2008 graduate Cahill Smith, Kseniia Polstiankina, Maeve Brophy and Edward Forstman, in honor of Kasman’s 50th birthday and his 15 years at UAB. The program will include works by Carter, Liszt, Medtner and Rachmaninoff.
The third and final concert of the 2016-2017 season will be given by Esther Park on March 26, 2017, with a program of works of Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy and Messiaen.
Born in Pusan, Korea, in 1984, Park began to play in public soon after her first piano lessons at the age of 4. She moved to the United States in 1995 after being accepted to The Juilliard School’s pre-college division. Park completed undergraduate and graduate degrees from Juilliard, studying with Yoheved Kaplinsky. Park has also studied at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater, Hannover, under the tutelage of Bernd Goetzke. Park has since received the Artist Diploma and Master of Musical Arts and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees from the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Boris Berman, according to her biography.
Esther ParkPark has performed across the United States as well as Asia and in major European cities, and has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Houston Symphony, Yale Philharmonia, Corpus Christi Symphony, Filharmonia Pomorska, Orchestra Filarmonica, Shanghai Philharmonic, Shreveport Symphony, the Juilliard Symphony and the New Jersey Symphony.
Performing with her sister Sun-A Park as Duo Amadeae, she won the Music Institute of Chicago’s Director’s Award with a cash prize of $10,000. Park is the winner of the 2013 Jose Roca International Piano Competition and 2013 Russian International Music Competition. She is the winner of 2009 “Prix Amadeo” and the 2009 Chopin Gesellschaft Klavierwettbewerb. She received top prizes at the third San Marino International Piano Competition, the third China Shanghai International Piano Competition, the sixth Paderewski International Piano Competition, the National Chopin Competition, Hilton Head International Competition and the 14th New Orleans International Piano Competition. She is the recipient of President Bill Clinton’s Prodigy Award.
Park has been the visiting assistant professor of piano at East Tennessee State University since 2014.